Monday, December 12, 2011

Up to Date on Definitions?

Increasingly I've been integrating a new term into my daily lingo. Sex-positive. As a writer of erotic romance involving alternative sexualities, I've found this to be a key concept. It struck me that more folks need to have this as part of their daily verbiage, so I thought I'd include a short primer.

The term is often used in context of the sex-positive movement which embraces an attitude toward human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as basically healthy and pleasurable. It supports sexual pleasure and experimentation. It advocates sex education and safer sex and makes no moral distinctions between types of sexual activities, leaving them to personal preferences.

I like the definition of sex-positivity given by sexologist Carol Queen:

"Sex-positive, a term that's coming into cultural awareness, isn't a dippy love-child celebration of orgone - it's a simple yet radical affirmation that we each grow our own passions on a different medium, that instead of having two or three or even half a dozen sexual orientations, we should be thinking in terms of millions. "Sex-positive" respects each of our unique sexual profiles, even as we acknowledge that some of us have been damaged by a culture that tries to eradicate sexual difference and possibility."

So feel free to throw "sex-positive" into your next conversation. Spread the knowledge. Spread tolerance and appreciation for diversity. And think of the word lovingly next time you read a hot erotic romance with less traditional sexual partnerships.